Chief Deputy Gary Wilson, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office
This year’s recipient of the award is Chief Deputy Gary Wilson of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. Gary has been in law enforcement for over 30 years and has a strong commitment to crime prevention. During his time with Port St. Lucie Police Department, he served as a School Resource Officer and Crime Prevention Practitioner. He started their Community Programs Unit which included Community Policing, Crime Prevention and School Resource officers.
He continued this commitment when he moved to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office where he established the largest group of RAD instructors in the state, which is “Rape Aggression Defense”. He has been an integral part of revamping the sheriff’s office TV show to include more crime prevention and is working on crime prevention PSAs that will be shown throughout the county.
Gary has been instrumental in the development, marketing and implementation of other crime prevention strategies such as Operation Identification, National Night Out, Fleet Watch, Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy and the community Crime Prevention Bulletin. He directed the development of a Facebook page for the Sheriff’s Office which is used heavily for crime prevention and risk reduction announcements.
Chief Deputy Gary Wilson believes in empowering the community through education and participation in crime reduction strategies. He knows these programs come with a price but believes that empowering citizens is worth the cost.
